Page 65 of The Devil's Embrace

“A simple thank you will suffice,” Titus drawled. “There’s no need to wave a gun in my face. Unless you plan on shooting to silence me? I just reminded you I’ve seen the tape.”

He’d seen the tape and he was clearly more perceptive than Bruce or any of the other officers who’d been assigned Calix’s case. He’d seen them, which meant he knew what Cal knew deep down.

“Did you tell him?” He motioned to Rhett’s cooling corpse.

“I haven’t told a soul,” Titus reassured. “And I never will.”

“Because?”

“Because, little monstrous one, I see no reason to.”

If Cal hadn’t already been thrown by that word twice already this morning, he might believe—

There was a chirp, and all of a sudden the door to the office began to open. Calix dropped his weapon, frowning at Titus as Troya and three other officers flooded into the room.

“Are you okay?” Troya demanded, shaking Cal to get his attention.

Was he?

Cal maintained eye contact with Titus even as the director began answering the questions of the officer nearest him.

He had no fucking clue.

Chapter 20:

The funeral was held a week later, just as they finished wrapping the case. Amory was still missing, but they’d linked her to Rhett through encrypted text messages found on the orderly’s home computer. The belief was she was on the run, but that wasn’t Calix’s problem; he’d done the job he’d been sent to do.

“Here.” Troya filled Cal’s empty glass and then took a drag straight from the liquor bottle. He turned and stared at the framed photo surrounded by purple flowers, Bruce’s smiling face appearing a little younger than he’d been when he’d lost his life.

They still didn’t know who’d made the final blow, but Mitri had been able to determine the cause of death as asphyxiation. The forensic scientist was currently seated at another table across the room, despite all the empty seats at the one Cal and Troya sat at.

“He’s taking this hard,” Calix observed, and Troya turned to see who he meant, snorting.

“That’ll happen when you find out your friend is secretly a psychopath.”

“We don’t know that.” Though the evidence against her wasn’t great. Along with the conversations they’d discovered, the forensics on the blaster Rhett had used at the hospital had come back as Amory’s.

“She helped cut off the heads of three people. If that’s not psychotic, I don’t know what is,” Troya insisted.

“Technically,” Titus’s clear voice rang out to them as he and Aodhan appeared, “a diagnosis for psychopathy is a bit more complex than that, and many of those who are diagnosed live perfectly fruitful lives that don’t include chopping the head off of unsuspecting victims, but I do agree, clearly there’s something wrong with Officer Paige.”

“Hey.” Aodhan dropped down in the spot next to Cal and placed his arm over the back of his chair. “How are you holding up?”

“That’s an insensitive thing to ask at a funeral,” Titus chided, easing in next to Troya.

“It’s fine,” Calix said. “I’m fine.”

“This bastard already quit his job and everything,” Troya told them, shaking his head. “He didn’t even wait until Bruce was in the ground to file the paperwork.”

“If you’re trying to make me feel guilty,” Cal snatched the bottle out of his hand and took a gulp, “mission accomplished.”

“Good.”

“I saw on the news that evidence has been collected against Rhett,” Titus brought the conversation back to the case. “So that’s it?”

“He was our guy,” Troya confirmed. “Him and Amory. She’s still loose, so if either of you hears from her—”

“She doesn’t like me much.” Titus gave a chilly smile.

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